I am Jinghua Xi, a member of the Fields Honors Program in the Mathematics Department at Southern University of Science and Technology, class of 2021. Mathematics has been a part of my life from an early age, with both my grandfather and father serving as university mathematics professors. Growing up in such an environment, I was naturally drawn to the beauty of mathematics and inspired to follow in their footsteps.
Former AMS president Francis Su once said, "Mathematics is for human flourishing." I see mathematics as a healthy lifestyle and a key to sustaining happiness. My dream is to one day discover the theorem—one that is profound and captivating, destined to be uncovered.
In pursuit of this dream, I have actively engaged in research during my undergraduate studies. During my junior year's first semester, I collaborated with Carlos Gustavo Moreira, a fellow of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, and Prof. Zhang Yiwei from the Southern University of Science and Technology. Together, we co-authored the paper "Graphs of Non-affine Continuous Functions are Never Self-similar". In this paper, we proved that the graph of a continuous function on [0,1] is a self-similar set if and only if the graph is a straight line. The paper is accepted by the Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society, with the referee noting that the result can be interesting for people working in the theory of self-similar sets.
This work not only highlights my passion for mathematics but also demonstrates my research potential and strong academic foundation. ❤️🔥
While research forms a crucial part of my academic journey, I also recognize the importance of effective communication in mathematics. This belief led me to organize a series of discussion groups, where I quickly realized that "the speaker always learns the most." Inspired by this insight, I took the initiative to establish a mathematics salon in the first semester of my junior year, leveraging the resources of the elite class at my university. Open to all undergraduates, the salon aimed to provide a platform for students to enhance their mathematical skills and engage in meaningful discussions.
Over the course of a semester, the salon flourished and was featured on the university's WeChat account.
Furthermore, I co-organized the first Mathematics and Physics Society Workshop at SUStech, initiated by undergraduates, from June 19th to June 29th, 2024. The workshop attracted over 600 participants and garnered national attention on social media.
During the event, I gave a talk titled "From the Riemann Sphere to Riemann Surface Theory" to an audience of 50, both offline and online. You can see the video of my talk here.